HGTV’S ‘Santa HQ’ Experience Brings Festive Family Fun

NEW YORK [Oct. 9, 2017] HGTV and Macerich today announced that a classic holiday tradition returns with HGTV’s popular Santa HQ experience—an event that has reinvented the traditional Santa Claus visit at malls across America since 2014. HGTV and Macerich mall properties will host this year’s merrymaking at 15 sites in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington, D.C. Santa HQ will welcome guests seven days a week beginning Thursday, Nov. 2, through Sunday, Dec. 24 (closed Thanksgiving Day).

Santa HQ connects the HGTV brand with millions of targeted consumers in markets across the country, thrilling guests of all ages with a 21st century immersive journey that features state-of-the-art digital technology. In addition to a custom photo opportunity with Santa Claus inside his modernized sleigh, mall guests can take an Elfie selfie to star in their very own holiday video, use Elf-Ray Vision to explore Santa’s Observatory and find out how they rank on the Naughty or Nice O’Meter. Visitors also will enjoy a synchronized holiday light show featuring over 10,000 individual lights orchestrated to the tune of Carol of the Bells.

While visiting Santa HQ, guests can customize their individual experience by using augmented reality to view Santa’s Workshop and Observatory in a magical way. Visitors are encouraged to download the Elf-Ray Vision app or use a provided tablet to discover the enchanting world of Santa HQ in stunning 2D and 3D digital scenes.

“For the past three years, Santa HQ has been an unforgettable holiday experience for tens of thousands of HGTV fans,” said Shannon Driver, general manager, U.S. brand marketing, Scripps Networks Interactive. “The network is thrilled to partner once again with Macerich to offer this interactive event full of wonder and fun that makes the season even more special for families.”

The unique attraction offers a powerful HGTV brand experience at each of the high-performing, market-dominant Macerich properties that host Santa HQ. “This holiday season, Macerich properties are set to unwrap great experiences for shoppers, including the incomparable Santa HQ,” said Petra Maruca, Vice President of Business Development, Macerich. “This one-of-a-kind interactive attraction, created in partnership with HGTV, has become a well-loved tradition at top Macerich centers across the country. We are delighted to again offer this exciting Santa experience that families can share.”

Reservations for each location can be made in advance santa-hq.com. HGTV knows the holiday season is a memorable time for the network’s audience, so fans are encouraged to share their Santa HQ experience on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using #santahq and #loveHGTV.

Santa HQ was conceived in collaboration with HGTV, Macerich and Pop2Life, a New York-based experiential marketing agency.

ABOUT HGTVHGTV delivers the superstar experts, fascinating families, compelling renovations and stunning transformations that make all things home fun. America’s favorite way to get entertaining, relatable and inspirational home and lifestyle content, HGTV offers: a top 10 cable network that is distributed to more than 91 million U.S. households; a website, HGTV.com, that attracts an average of nine million people each month; social media platforms that engage nearly nine million users; HGTV Magazine, a monthly publication that reaches more than one million readers and exclusive collections of home-oriented products through the HGTV HOME™ consumer products line. Viewers can become fans of HGTV and interact with other home improvement enthusiasts through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, HGTV is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., which also owns and operates Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Cooking Channel and Great American Country.

ABOUT MACERICHMacerich, an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. Macerich currently owns 54 million square feet of real estate consisting primarily of interests in 48 regional shopping centers. Macerich specializes in successful retail properties in many of the country’s most attractive, densely populated markets with significant presence in the Pacific Rim, Arizona, Chicago and the Metro New York to Washington, D.C. corridor. Additional information about Macerich can be obtained from the company's website: www.macerich.com.

ABOUT POP2LIFEPop2Life is an award winning, Condé Nast brand experience agency based in New York. Founded by Eric Murphy in 2003, the company offers ideation and strategy, environmental design and creative services, full-service event production, talent procurement and event concierge services. Clients include Scripps Networks Interactive, Capital One, AMC, DreamWorks, Macerich and iHeart Radio, among many others.